17-04-2025
More child care coming to southwestern Minnesota
LUVERNE, MN (KELO) — A new child care center is coming to southwestern Minnesota. It's exciting news for not only families, but for the entire community.
Kids Rock! Childcare Center in Luverne, Minnesota, will offer up to 186 spots for kids from six weeks to 12 years of age.
'What I'm hearing here in my tours and in my interviews is that they live here, but there's no child care here. So, they're going to work in Sioux Falls, and they're going to care in Sioux Falls or the surrounding communities where there is care,' executive director Sara Robinson said.
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Bringing families back to Luverne is a step toward addressing the child care shortage that several communities face. It may not solve the entire problem at once, but it's another gear in the right direction.
'This is only a part of it. And even at 186 spots, you think, wow, a lot of day care, but we're only going to take care of a portion of the shortage,' Luverne Mayor Patrick Baustian said. 'But what this will enable our community to do is to continue to thrive economically through economic development, through more housing growth.'
More families could also mean more workers returning to the area. The center will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
'To bring those young people back to the community, to the small town is super important,' Robinson said. 'Now we can bring back those jobs, we can bring back those children to the community because then we have a center to do that.'
U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith toured the new facility on Wednesday morning.
'There are families all over this community that are going to walk in the doors of this building and they're going to feel a sigh of such relief,' Smith said.
In 2023, Klobuchar and Smith helped secure $2.6 million in Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) for the project.
'I don't think you've ever seen $2.6 million be better spent than this of federal funds,' Klobuchar said. 'Of course, this wouldn't have happened without the community standing up.'
The facility's grand opening to families is on June 2.
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